Like most people, I am trying embark on 2012 with a renewed commitment to health, joy, and calm. Maybe my lofty aspirations will last only a few days before the roller coaster of life, obligations, and not-so-good habits take over. Day five and I'm going strong.... only 360 to go.

A nourishing breakfast can never be a bad thing and this recipe has become quite popular at our house. I finally have my soft boiled eggs down to an art, and the rest of the dish is so simple that you whip up the whole thing in about 10 minutes. Easy, right?

I was eating my bowl of soft-boiled eggs, toast, and arugula and Abby remarked, "Hey, that's a salad."

To bring your eggs to room temp, submerge them in a bowl of really warm (but not boiling hot) tap water.

Fill a small sauce pan with 3-4 inches of water. Cover pan with a lid and heat water on your stove top over a high flame.

Toss your bread in the toaster.

When the water is boiling, gently lower your eggs into the sauce pan, and set your timer to 5 minutes and 15 seconds. Adjust flame to achieve a nice simmer. While the eggs are cooking, dump out the bowl of water that you used to warm your uncooked eggs. Refill the bowl with cold water and a few ice cubes. When the timer goes off, quickly remove eggs from the pot (using a slotted spoon is easiest) and immediately place cooked eggs in the ice water bath while you finish prepping the rest of your goodies. The eggs can rest here for a minute or so until they are cool enough to handle.

When your toast is ready, butter it and tear it into pieces. Nestle the buttery toast bits into a small bowl. Scatter arugula leaves over the toast.

Using a serrated knife, cut the top off of the egg. Scoop the egg out of the shell and place it on top of your toast and arugula. Sprinkle with good salt and some fresh ground pepper.

Enjoy!

Serves one. You can easily increase the all ingredients to feed as many as you wish.

Salad for breakfast...what a great idea!! Your soft boiled egg looks amazing!!! I absolutely adore poached eggs, but your beautiful soft boiled egg has me wanting one of those instead. Thank you for your detailed instructions, I will have to try soft boiling my own eggs :D

Looks delicious, and what a beautiful photo! I too spent much time getting my soft boiled eggs down to an art. I settled on 6 minutes, but I also boil them straight from the fridge rather than bringing to room temp first.

I swear....we are on the same wave length...I have been really trying hard to perfect my soft boiled eggs and I was thinking how pretty it would look next to something really green, sprinkled with bacon. You beat me to it again! It's so funny. I always have to laugh. Great pic's as usual.

Erin, seeing this salad reminds me to slow down and treat breakfast as a true meal instead of a dash out the door (to drive my kids to school) with an egg sandwich in hand. Beautiful as always! Happy New Year.

This is one of my favorite things to eat, though I should really be soft boiling my eggs. That is the most perfect looking soft-boiled egg! Also, I often have an egg (albeit fried, naughty me) on top of rice with sauteed kale, sprinkled with sesame seeds. It really helps to start the day off right!